Find nature, no matter where you are, in the quiet within the self, in the inner space of calmness and peacefulness that everyone is capable of achieving. Imagine a quiet country lane, the hills and valleys it meanders through, and place yourself there in the fresh air, the sunlight, the fragrant breeze that cools your forehead. The imagination is a strong natural force, as strong as nature around you, capable of so much. Use it to your advantage to achieve calm and quietude no matter where you are and what is going on in your life. It is your most natural helpful talent!
In a dream, my son is my friend. I have no memory of him as my son. Upon awakening I am fascinated at this absolute lapse in memory of such a prominent waking life relationship. This is a glimpse of life beyond the veil.
“What veil?” you might ask. The veil of ego identity. Ego is the part of our soul identified with waking life in the physical body. Ego is the main player in the waking life drama we are fully engaged in. The ego’s veil is its narcissism, though not necessarily pathologically so. It simply only knows itself as all that it is.
The ego is also quite prejudiced with material bias. The physical world is its oyster and all that really exists. This in-body perspective has been critical to keep the focus on the intent, the fated karma of this current life adventure. However, as is more than evident in current world events, Mother Earth is in labor. Her water has broken and full-on contractions have begun.
Birthing is our first rite of passage in this life. The journey into life is a solo voyage fraught with breathlessness, volcanic eruption, violent collision and claustrophobic containment. Arriving into our separateness, at birth, requires surviving the perils of these initiation challenges as we push out into new life. Currently, Earth’s initiation challenge requires us to navigate her violent changes as, once again, we find our way to new life.
New life on this planet is the discovery and integration of life beyond the confines of ego identity, life beyond the veil. Our materialistic focus, with its land-grab mentality, has saturated Mother’s nurturing capacity. She requires now a greater soulful human presence, a maturity beyond the childish dependency locked within the ego’s veil. To achieve this we must expand our knowing of all that we are. To achieve this we must venture into the transpersonal dimension of our being.
My amnesia of my son, as my son, was such a transpersonal journey. The more we cling solely to our relationships of familial association, as our definition of who we are and how we should live, the more we remain separated from the overall needs of the greater whole world. We are birthing into a consciousness that extends family to all, with equanimity.
To experience my son as friend, with no proprietary rights, breaks the illusion of special connection. Yes, of course there is special connection in the drama of this life. That can’t be erased. But to wake up to the greater reality, that all that is is part of that same whole, extends love to all; we are all simply inseparable. With this knowing, we are fully poised to grow beyond the limits of ego narcissism.
This journey to our transcendent selves, as we navigate the violent contractions of now, does require that we suffer the full knowing of our suppressed and repressed selves, what Jung called the shadow of the personal unconscious. This is the work of recapitulation, fully exploring the triggers of daily life, which bring forth our inconvenient truths.
We are aided in this journey by guides and by our Higher Soul, which resides in the transpersonal dimension of our being. Our ego soul becomes our left brain navigator on our voyage of recovery and discovery. Though still engaged in material life, our needs become more soulful and refined. The spirit of a gift outweighs the material gift.
Bob Monroe left us with a set of tools to discover that, yes, “I am more than my physical body.” As we traverse that non-physical reality, the ego discovers that it is part of its greater Soul. Indeed, that I am more than my ego identity. And with that we are truly birthing into new life.
Let your mind be still, windless and calm. Let your body be calm, quiet and cool. Let your spirit be cool, within you and yet beside you so that you may know yourself as more than just a physical being. Know that in quietude this is possible, to know the self as calm, quiet body and spirit. Pause often to arrive at this unified place of peace within. Sit in the peacefulness and know your Self in this way. It’s a very helpful practice in a busy world.
Save your energy for what’s right. Rather than doing too much that doesn’t serve you, do only what conserves and at the same time utilizes your energy so that you are neither depleted nor overloaded. When you think about taking care of yourself, check in with your energy and decide what is the best use of it. Energy implies not only how much you have but what your spirit needs, what your inner you needs, and what your physical you needs too. Check in with the whole self often throughout the day to see how you are doing.
Refrain from negative talk and thoughts about yourself. Instead, accent the positive. Feed yourself new ideas that are nurturing and sustainable and little by little notice the changes taking place. It may seem as if negative changes take place quickly while positive ones take longer, but that’s just another old idea to drop, for things can change for the better in an instant. In a moment’s thought you can change your entire world.
